Stay on target

I don’t remember when I first heard about Days Gone. Truth to be, told there’s a lot I don’t remember about Days Gone given every time we’ve played the PlayStation 4-exclusive open-world zombie shooter it has failed to leave a lasting impression. But I especially don’t remember when I first heard about it. It seems like for years Sony has been talking up “Freakers” roaming around the biker-esque post apocalypse from SIE Bend Studio while the gaming community collectively shrugged. And on February 22 the full game will prove us right or wrong.

Or rather, it would if it wasn’t delayed again. Sony recently announced that Days Gone got pushed from Q1 to a new Q2 date of April 26, 2019. Presumably this will give the team some extra time polish everything up, but something else in Sony’s statement stuck out to us. The delay is also to “move the release of Days Gone from the crowded February timeframe.” And after realizing just how crowded that timeframe is, it makes us wonder what other games might be pushed out of the way.

A stacked first quarter is a relatively recent trend in game releases. Common sense says to release all of your biggest games at the end of the year for the holiday shopping season. But if there’s just too much competition then smaller games get ignored. Better to put them out a few months later when they can get some attention, and maybe be picked up by new holiday console owners itching for something else to play. It’s how the beginning of 2017, with absolute bangers like Resident Evil VII and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn and Nier: Automata and Night in the Woods and Yakuza 0, turned into the best start in gaming history.

There’s a more specific reason too why games are getting out of this holiday: Red Dead Redemption 2. Rockstar’s games are absolute sales juggernauts sucking all the oxygen (and human labor) out of the room. Grand Theft Auto V, a five-year-old game, still regularly charts. Red Dead 2 is Rockstar’s first game built from the ground up for current-gen consoles, and anticipation for the open-world Western is through the roof. Similar heavy hitters like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Pokemon, and Smash Bros can hang in the coming holiday battle. But anything below that weight class wisely tapped out until early next year.

That’s why a list of releases for early 2019 sounds like a holiday lineup for any other year. In January we have New Super Mario Bros U. Deluxe (Jan 11), Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes (Jan 18), Resident Evil 2 (Jan 25), and freaking Kingdom Hearts III (Jan 29). In February there’s Trials Rising (Feb 12), Dead or Alive 6 (Feb 15), and Anthem, Crackdown 3, and Metro Exodus all releasing on February 22, which was also Days Gone’s original date. Finally, in March right now we know about Devil May Cry 5 (March 8), The Division 2 (March 15), and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (March 22). But there’s still time for more announcements, like one last Crackdown 3 delay.

I don’t know how much of a difference Days Gone’s new date will make. With so many great video games being made now, there’s rarely any break from “busy periods.” So when the next Game of the Year comes out on random January weekend, don’t say we didn’t warn you. For more on Red Dead Redemption 2, the cause of all this, check out the latest gameplay trailer and character portraits.